


starry night

by afewreelthoughts



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 18:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20158333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afewreelthoughts/pseuds/afewreelthoughts
Summary: Brienne reminded herself, for perhaps the dozenth time, that Renly didn’t make her come to this party - no one had made her, she’d chosen to be here of her own accord - and now she had to deal with the consequences.





	starry night

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt submitted to asoiafrarepairs on tumblr: Brienne x Margaery - matching tattoos 
> 
> I own nothing and make no money from this. Everything belongs to George R.R. Martin.

Brienne reminded herself, for perhaps the dozenth time, that Renly didn’t _make_ her come to this party - no one had made her, she’d chosen to be here of her own accord - and now she had to deal with the consequences.

When Renly invited her, he hadn’t even asked the way he used to when he wanted something desperately, all big blue eyes and a story or two about Stannis to tug at her heart enough that she’d do anything to lift his spirits. Instead he had just smiled and said, “Everyone will be there. You should come.”

“Everyone?” Brienne asked.

“Yes, _everyone_.”

A few weeks before that, he and Loras had gone from friends to more than friends, and it had effected a real change in him: he was less moody, less demanding, and she was happy for him. It would have been nice if he’d been the one to tell her about Loras, instead Hyle had dropping the news along with a lazy grin and a “So…_ now_ can I ask you out?”

Brienne sipped at her champagne. It was good, better than it should be at a crowded New Year’s party.

The apartment was beautiful, all strung up with fairy lights and sparkly stars hanging from the ceiling, tables of food and sparkling wine dusted with an effortless layer of black and gold confetti.

She felt like an oversized chandelier in her sequined sweater, and hugged the wall as though she might be able to sink into it. Renly had did have other guests that he needed to spend time with - “everyone” she supposed - but he said he’d find her later. Whether he did or not, she would leave in less than an hour. Maybe half an hour? The people she bumped into were polite, but no one was making an effort to chat up the 6'5" wallflower. Which was fine.

Brienne fell in enough shadow to comfortably begin to watch the party in earnest, without worrying that people would find her pitiful for staring out at fun she wasn’t partaking in. Most of them didn’t seem to notice her at all. Groups and couples were drawing closer together as the night went on, smalltalk giving way under the pressures of champagne and good company.

In the middle of it all, a giggling girl toppled over the couch in the center of the room. Her sparkly green dress that didn’t have a bodice, per se, instead two swathes of fabric coming up from the waist that covered her… what needed to be covered… and tied behind her neck, leaving her back bare. She flipped onto her stomach, leaned her arms on the arm of the couch, and smiled directly at Brienne.

“Hello! Having a good night?”

“Yeah, are you?” Brienne asked, though the girl looked either drunk or high or purely giddy with happiness.

“Yes, I am!” she smiled even wider. “I’m Margaery.”

“Margaery… Loras’s sister?”

“Loras’s sister, yes!” she said.

“Yeah. It’s nice to see you… again.”

Brienne had met Margaery in passing before, an impression of sweetness and a flurry of skirts to match, but she was arresting up close. Brienne couldn’t look away.

Margaery sighed. “That was part of the point of the party, having all our friends meet all his friends. They disappeared for a while, just the two of them away in the Stormlands, not texting _anybody.”_

“So it wasn’t just me?” Brienne said, knowing that she was displaying more relief than she should.

“Of course not!” Margaery rolled her eyes. “I didn’t hear from Loras for almost a _week._ I told him if he disappears on me like that again, he’ll have to find a new sister.” She sat up and flopped against the back of the couch.

She looked like Loras, Brienne thought, the same sparkly mischief in her eyes, the same dark curls, the same freckles. She hadn’t seen Loras’s shoulders, but perhaps they were as freckled as his sister’s. Brienne found the features far more appealing when they weren’t on a face rolling its eyes or looking down its nose at her in disdain. What Loras had against her, Brienne had no idea.

Margaery adjusted her skirts.

“You and your brother talk every day?” Brienne asked, just to have something to say. “That’s why it was a surprise that you hadn’t heard from him?”

“Loras and I do, yes. Less often for Garlan and WIllas, but if one of us hasn’t texted in a week or so, the other will check in on them.” She tilted her head. “You’re Brienne, right?”

“Renly mentioned me?” she said and bit her lip when she heard the sharpness in her tone.

Margaery patted the couch cushion next to hers. “Come on, sit!”

Brienne crept from her safe place against the wall to sit next to Margaery. Either the couch was incredibly soft or it wasn’t intended for someone with her build, because she was swallowed in fluff.

“Have you found somebody to kiss at midnight?” Margeary asked, toying with one of her curls.

“I was going to leave before midnight,” Brienne said, too tipsy to offer a diplomatic answer.

“It doesn’t have to be a kiss,” Margaery said, resting her hand on Brienne’s sleeve. “It could be a hug or a handshake or whatever you’re comfortable with!”

Brienne nodded.

“Tell me if you want me to introduce you to anybody - boy or girl! This party is incredibly gay. It was bound to be with Renly and I planning it.”

“Renly… _and_ you?” Her eyes fixed on Margaery’s lips.

Margaery rolled her eyes. “Did he tell you he planned all of this on his own? Because he has good ideas, but can’t always figure out how to make them work. That’s where I come in… ” She pointed at the stars on the ceiling and began to explain all the different ways they’d tried to hang them before they found one that worked. Brienne listened closely, but this… hadn’t been what she’d been asking. Not at all.

When Margaery pointed to the opposite end of the room, and Brienne saw her back again, she could make out a familiar shape drawn on her left shoulder.

“What is that?” Brienne asked.

“What is what?”

“On your back?”

Margaery reached behind her, and for one terrible, wonderful second Brienne thought she might untie her dress.

“What’s on my back?”

“Is it a tattoo? It looks like a rose.”

Margaery smiled in relief. “Yes. My parents weren’t _thrilled,_ but they let us make our own adult choices, and knew that that means we might sometimes do things they don’t like.”

“It looks like mine,” Brienne said without thinking.

“Yours?” Margaery’s eyes sparkled. “Show me!”

Brienne drew her oversized sweater down over one shoulder and turned around so Margaery could see.

“I wanted something that would be pretty,” she said. _Because I never will be_, she didn’t say.

“It is pretty.”

“Thank you.”

"Did you go to Tobho Mott?” Margaery asked.

“Yes, I heard he was good.”

“Cause it looks like the same one I got.”

Brienne had thought as much.

Margaery grinned. “That’s funny, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“We both have the same tattoo in the same place, and we hadn’t even met yet?” Margaery’s eyes met hers directly, and Brienne wondered if she had been drunk at all.

Brienne pushed her sweater back over her shoulder. “Some people might say it’s… kind of like a… sign.”

“Ooo what kind of sign?”

“I…” Brienne felt a blush flood her cheeks, and she had to look away. “I don’t know.”

“It’s okay not to know,” Margaery said. “You know?”

Brienne slouched back on the couch, closed her eyes, and let herself speak. “I guess I’ve always… liked people who seem… untouchable to me because otherwise…” She took a deep breath. “Otherwise I’d have to think about what _I _want, what it would be like to have someone like me back, _who_ I would want to like me back… and that’s scary.”

“It is,” Margaery said softly.

Brienne opened her eyes to see Margaery curled up, knees to her chest, facing her.

“It can’t be scary for you, you’re so pretty.” Margaery could have anyone here, if she wanted, but she was choosing to spend her time talking to Brienne. Which made no sense.

“You’re pretty, too,” Margaery said. “More than the rose.”

Brienne turned to face her. “Nobody’s said that to me before.”

Margaery smiled. “Then I’ll say it again.” She extended her legs across Brienne’s lap, and Brienne forgot about the party all around them, the people that must be watching, until someone began the countdown to midnight. Brienne’s heart raced as Margaery put her hands on her shoulders and quirked an eyebrow in lieu of words. _Do you want to? _

They started kissing before the countdown ended, and they didn’t stop.


End file.
